Missing Toddler Drove Himself to the County Fair on Toy John Deere Tractor

A toddler who was reported missing in Minnesota on Thursday night (July 18) turned out not to be in too much danger — he just wanted to go back to the fair.

The Chisago County Fair kicked off Thursday night in Rush City, Minn. Police dispatchers received a call that evening from a father who had taken his 2 1/2-year-old son to the fair, which is located right down the street from their house. The boy went missing after they got home, and as local news station WTHR 13 reports, Chisago County Sheriff's sergeant Jason Foster says the boy was simply determined to return to the fair, so he jumped on his battery-powered toy John Deere tractor and headed back to the fairgrounds on his own.

According to WTHR, the boy's family home is just a block from the fair, and he can see the rides from his house. So it was simple enough for him to drive straight down the sidewalk and into the back gate of the fairgrounds, where evidently the sight of a toddler riding a toy John Deere tractor didn't stand out enough for anyone to stop him. A police deputy who was working the fair that night located the boy just minutes after dispatchers received the call reporting him missing. The boy had driven straight to his favorite ride, the Tilt-a-Whirl, where the deputy found him.

The Chisago County Sheriff's Office turned to Facebook to post a picture of the getaway vehicle and give an update on the boy, writing, "He was reunited with Dad who promptly suspended his son's license by removing the battery from it."

The story has since gone viral, with even CNN reporting about the unusually determined toddler and his trusty tractor.